


Not-Quite-Absent Friends

by Brumeier



Series: After the Eclipse [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Ghosts, Small Towns, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-04 01:22:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16337042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: When Sheriff Ramly started acting happier than normal, Sally was dispatched to find out why.





	Not-Quite-Absent Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Monster Fest: Ghosts, Ghouls and Wraith

“You need to speak to the Sheriff,” Dulcie Byers said without preamble. She walked up to the counter and slapped her hands on it. The pretty manicures she used to be so proud of were no more; regular transformation into a wolf played hell on the nails.

“Why?” Sally asked. She was restocking the lottery scratch-offs. Waste of money in her opinion, but some people swore by the darn things.

“What do you mean, why? Haven’t you seen him lately? He’s been grinning like a fox in a hen house.” Dulcie leaned closer. “Something’s going on with that man, you mark my words.”

Sally rolled her eyes. She didn’t have time for busybody nonsense. “Not a crime to be happy.”

Dulcie leaned in close and lowered her voice. “He smells different.”

That gave Sally pause. Turning into a shapeshifter hadn’t made Dulcie any more bearable, but Sally was willing to give more credence to animal senses than plain old gossip.

“I’m not promising anything, but I’ll look into it.”

“See that you do.” Dulcie stormed back out the same way she’d stormed in. 

Sally didn’t think there was any reason for concern, but she kept her ear to the ground. And it seemed a lot of people had noticed Sheriff Ramly’s improved mood.

“I bet he’s met a nice girl,” Betty Stables said when she came in to buy lady razors. “I always thought he and Debra Jo would make a fine match.”

“When would he have time?” Bill chimed in. Sally’s husband had a deplorable taste for gossip himself. “Man’s either on the job or working on that house of his.”

The Sheriff had purchased the old Halstead place on the south end of town, and whenever he wasn’t working he could be found there. He’d replaced the roof and put in new windows before tackling the inside room by room. Sally had never seen someone so single-minded. When the eclipse dumpster had regurgitated treasures for the townspeople, Ramly had plucked out a door knocker. You’d have thought the man won a million dollars.

“Every man needs a good woman by his side,” Betty replied loftily. “My Darryl would be helpless without me.”

Sally was certain Darryl didn’t share that assessment.

“He talks to himself a lot,” Minnie Vesper confided, her shopping basket full of baking supplies. “I brought him over a blueberry dump cake yesterday and he sounded like he had company. Wasn’t a soul there but him and me.”

“Everyone in this town’s getting tetched in the head,” Old Man Erickson observed. “Since that infernal eclipse.”

That was one thing Sally could agree with. The whole village had changed after the total solar eclipse a few weeks back. She didn’t know why, or what might happen next, but it was clear that anything _could_ happen. Maybe she’d pay a visit to the Sheriff.

*o*o*o*

The old Halstead place looked quaint enough from the outside. It had a little covered front porch, and a green front door with the shiny brass dumpster knocker front and center. The only outward sign that construction was still ongoing was the pile of lumber next to the shed set behind the house. The shed doors were open, and Sally could hear a power saw at work.

Sally approached cautiously, not wanting to startle Ramly when he was working with dangerous equipment. As she got closer she could hear him talking, voice raised over the sound of the saw.

“I don’t rightly know,” he said. “But I can surely look into it.”

As soon as the saw stopped whirring, Sally knocked on the open door. “Hello, Sheriff?”

Ramly turned around, smile on his face, and yeah…it was a little disconcerting. He was usually such a dour man, even when he was in a good mood.

“Good afternoon, Miz Everly. You here on official store business?” He laughed at his own joke and cast a quick glance at the workbench at the far end of the shed. Sally looked as well, but she didn’t see anything besides neatly organized tools on a peg board.

“Just came to see how you’re making out with the renovations,” Sally lied. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“I was just about to take a break,” Ramly said amiably. He pulled the plug on the saw, brushed the sawdust from his flannel shirt and faded jeans, and led Sally through the back door of the house.

“First floor is nearly done. I’m still waiting on some light fixtures, and my new stove.”

Sally had to admit he was doing a fine job of it. Everything was new and clean. There was a hole between the kitchen cabinets, waiting for the new appliance, and a camp stove set up on the counter.

“Floors are all reclaimed wood. I finished ‘em myself.”

“You might be in the wrong line of work, Sheriff,” Sally said.

Ramly chuckled. “Maybe. I do like serving my community, though.”

The second floor was bare bones: plywood floors, only a couple of walls up. The Sheriff was camping out in what he said would eventually be his bedroom, a mattress on the floor and his uniform hanging on a peg on the wall.

“Not sure what I’ll do with myself once it’s all done,” Ramly said, scratching the back of his neck. 

“You can fix up my place,” Sally replied. “Bill’s all thumbs when it comes to working with tools.”

She took note of the cold spots as they walked through the house. There were too many of them. Ramly offered to get her a drink, and Sally excused herself to the downstairs bathroom to freshen up. Not that she needed any freshening, but she wanted a chance to dig through her bag and look for her glasses.

Ah, there it was! Sally pulled out the case and opened it up. The glasses weren’t exactly prescription, but there wasn’t a match for them anywhere in the world as far as she knew. Of course, she’d been out of the game for a good long while. There was no telling what kind of innovations they’d created since she left.

She slipped the glasses on, the tinted lenses giving everything a grayish cast. She slipped out of the bathroom and back to the kitchen and could hear Ramly in there talking to himself again.

“Take it easy, okay? Sally’s not a threat.”

Ramly wasn’t alone in the kitchen. There was a young man in there with him, dressed in rolled jeans and a plain white t-shirt, his hair slicked back in a way reminiscent of James Dean. He was standing next to the refrigerator, arms crossed. His mouth was moving but Sally couldn’t hear what he was saying. The glasses only gave her ability to see, not hear.

“Who’s your friend, Sheriff?” Sally asked.

Ramly gave such a start he nearly dropped the glass of water in his hand. As it was, water splashed all over his hand and the floor as he juggled it. He looked decidedly guilty, like a young child with their hand caught in the cookie jar.

“Uh…what’s that now?”

Sally pushed her glasses down, just to be sure, but as soon as she stopped looking through them the other man vanished. “I didn’t know the Halstead house was haunted.”

Ramly exchanged a look with his ghost, who was wide-eyed and open-mouthed. “Miz Everly, I don’t know what you think is happening here, but let me assure you everything’s fine.”

“Sheriff Ramly, you have a ghost in your kitchen. That’s not fine. And please tell him to stop yelling at me because I can’t hear him.”

“Ben,” Ramly said with a sigh. “His name is Ben Halstead.”

It was plain to Sally that the Sheriff and the ghost of Ben Halstead had struck up some sort of friendship. Why else had he been so cheerful as of late? Sally liked to think she was a pretty good judge of people, and Ramly had always struck her as a little bit lonely. He had the job and the house project, but nothing and no-one else. Despite the best intentions of the village’s most intrusive matchmakers.

“If you feel like you’re in danger, Sheriff, there are steps we can take.”

“Steps?”

“Salt, iron. If you know why Ben is still on the Earthly plane, we can try and send him to the other side.”

The look of pure panic that Ramly and Ben exchanged told Sally the rest of the story. Looked like the matchmakers had been taking the wrong approach from the start.

“Well, I have to head back to the store.” Sally nodded once at Ben before taking off the glasses and putting them back in the case. “If you need to consult me, Sheriff, I’m always available.”

Ramly walked her out and put a tentative hand on her shoulder once they were on the porch. 

“Thank you. For not sending him away.”

“Be careful, Earl,” Sally said, just as earnestly. “Ghosts can turn mean, depending on their circumstances. But they can’t penetrate a circle of salt. Keep that in the back of your mind.”

Ramly nodded solemnly. “I will.”

Sally turned to her car, hesitated, then turned back. “I’m glad you’re happy.”

She’d do her best to make sure he stayed that way.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** Another installment. I wanted to show that not every new monster that shows up in the village needs to be vanquished. Although if Ghost Ben doesn’t tread the straight and narrow, Sally will take care of him poste haste. ::grins::


End file.
